Wednesday, December 28, 2011

HB87 PROVISIONS TO TAKE EFFECT ON JANUARY 1, 2012

Key sections of Georgia's anti-immigrant law HB87 are about to take effect on Sunday, January 1, 2012.
The E-Verify requirement is about to take effect on that date by requiring employers with more than 500 employees to participate in E-Verify to check employment eligibility of their new hires. Businesses that have 100-499 employees will be required to use E-Verify as of July 1, 2012 and companies with more than 10 employees are required to use E-verify by July 1, 2013. Employers with 10 or fewer employees are exempt under HB87.
For most small businesses it will be difficult to comply with the E-Verify requirements of training and administration and other than being cumbersome, it does not really prohibit unlawful workers from working.
Another section of HB87 that will take effect is that any agency administering public benefits must require each applicant to provide a "secure and verifiable document" of identity, which does not include most foreign documents. Will the abused undocumented immigrant women now have to go to private shelters rather than public ones?
Happy new year!